


What is your name?

by Pearlislove



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Comfort/Angst, Doctor Who Secret Santa 2019, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, referenced The Doctor/Sarah Jane Smith, yeah idk what this is either
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:34:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21919933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pearlislove/pseuds/Pearlislove
Summary: Upon hearing her questions, however, the man's face grew darker, the smile fading and the eyes getting hard. "I am The Valeyard, and I intend to see The Doctor stand trial before the High Court of Gallifrey. There, he will pay for his crimes that he has committed throughout space and time." He stretched out a glove clad hand, putting it on her shoulder. "You can tell them about your travels with The Doctor. Of all the sins he committed, all the innocent species he killed." The hand gripped her shoulder, squeezing it. The Valeyard leaned forward, whispering in her ear. "Of all the damage he did to you"
Relationships: The Doctor (Doctor Who) & Sarah Jane Smith
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to TARDISwardroberoom on tumblr, who I was secret santa for in the Doctor Who Secret Santa 2019. They...made it VERY clear that they woudl like something with The Valeyard. Further, they requested a meeting between him and Sarah Jane. Enjoy!

*knock, knock*

It is late at night, ink black darkness surrounding Sarah Jane like a blanket. She doesn't know if she forgot the bill or something blew out, but her attempts at lighting the bedside lamps turns fruitless.

"Fuck" Hearing the knocking on the door, she jump out of bed and she rushes through the dark apartment, wondering who it was and what had happened. 

Considering the nature of her occupations, she knew better than to take it lightly when people came knocking in the middle of the night.

"I'm here, I'm here, what..." She opens the door, expecting a UNIT officer or perhaps an old friend of The Doctor, but the man in the long black robes are neither. No, he is something completely else. "Who are you?"

The man smiled, razor sharp, his black eyes wandering over her body. "Perfect" He whispered. "My dear Miss Smith, how would like to be a witness?"

"A witness? To what?" It's a scary smile, and Sarah Jane finds herself looking for the light button again.

"To the cruel and apaling conducts of The Doctor" The man took two steps forward, standing flush against Sarah Jane. Even in the darkness, his eyes burned with a feverish joy. "I intend to bring The Doctor to justice! At last, he will see punishment for all the harm that he has done!"

Hearing his words, Sarah Jane felt acutely uncomfortable. She may be angry at The Doctor, but she knew better than to think him being put to court could amount to anything good. "And why would I witness? About what? What court is it that you will put him before" She fires off questions rapidly and with confidence, her journalist instincts kicking in as she realize she has too little information all together. "Who even are you?!"

Upon hearing her questions, however, the man's face grew darker, the smile fading and the eyes getting hard. "I am The Valeyard, and I intend to see The Doctor stand trial before the High Court of Gallifrey. There, he will pay for his crimes that he has committed throughout space and time." He stretched out a glove clad hand, putting it on her shoulder. "You can tell them about your travels with The Doctor. Of all the sins he committed, all the innocent species he killed." The hand gripped her shoulder, squeezing it. The Valeyard leaned forward, whispering in her ear. "Of all the damage he did to you"

For a second, Sarah Jane thinks back. She sees The Doctor's uncaring face and hears the noise of the TARDIS as it fades away from the empty Aberdeen street corner. She imagines punishing The Doctor for the pain that pull at her chest every day, and thinks that maybe it would be sweet after all...

Suddenly, violently, she pulls back again, and now she is scared for real. This man was out for The Doctor, and likely he would do anything to get him. "The Doctor didn't hurt me. He would never hurt anyone, not on purpous!" She cries out in protest, defensive against this man who knows too much about things that only she should know. She never vocalized the way The Doctor hurt her, and wouldn't now either. "You don't know him like I do. "

Surprisingly, there was something soft in the man's eyes when she said that, the meaning of what she said seemingly making it past the hard surface. "Oh, my dear Miss Smith" He began speaking, and something in his voice was so familiar it sent shivers down her spine. "I know The Doctor better than anyone else"

"Right…" Sarah is hesitant, unsure what to do next. She doubted the man would just leave, but neither did she have any want to go with him. "Are you...is The Valeyard really what they call you?" She thinks about his name, mulling it over to try and think if she recognize it. 

It follows the same form and style as other Time Lords, just like The Doctor and The Master, but she did not know if he was good or if he was evil. 

Wanting to put The Doctor on trial didn't leave her hopeful for the former.

Once again, the man looked surprised and almost overwhelmed, his hard face softening significantly. "Yes. Yes, that is what they call me these days" 

"Then that means they haven't always been called that" She countered suspiciously. "What did they call you before?"

The Valeyard shake his head. "It does not matter, Sarah dear. It is of no interest. All that is of interest is for you to go get dressed, come back, and come with me to witness against The Doctor" He looked at her, a little smirk pulling at the edges of his mouth. "I want to crush The Doctor, and I need your help Sarah"

Sarah Jane perked up when he spoke this time. Though he did not seem to notice it, he had called her 'Sarah'. Not Sarah Jane, not Miss Smith, but Sarah. And in the hole Universe, Sarah Jane had only ever encountered one person who insisted to call her Sarah. "Sarah" She whispered softly. "Only The Doctor call me 'Sarah'"

The Valeyard reacted as though he been struck. Flinching, he backed towards the door, eyes turned away from Sarah Jane and now-trembling hands held tight to his side. "He has committed immeasurable amounts of crimes, causing suffering and pain to people all across space and time, and no one ever dares to speak up about it." He said this loudly, and his voice is less even than before. "I believed that you would be a perfect witness. You, if anyone, should know the cruelty of The Doctor...but perhaps I was mistaken. Perhaps I shall have to find another to stand witness for The Doctor's sins."

He turned around, fully prepared to leave Sarah Jane be, but something make it hard for him to take the last steps out the door. 

It wasn't that he cared for her. She was the ends to a mean like anything and everything else. But looking at her, hearing the way she spoke of The Doctor, it reminded him of the person he had used to be.

In distant memory, he can almost recall what it felt like to hold her close, smell the shampoo in her hair and feel the warmth of her skin.

Sarah Jane watched him walk away, only to hesitate at the last step. Clearly, though he made it clear he couldn't care less, he did not want to leave her. "Who are you?" She asks his back, thinking she already knows the answer but wanting to be sure. 

"I am the  _ Valeyard _ " His voice is pressed, his teeth clenched. Her insistance for him to give another name eats him up, digging deep into his soul and dragging up more of what he'd left to be forgotten. "And I really must be going, Miss Smith. This conversation is pointless and I need to get hold of a new witness."

"Doctor" Sarah Jane repeats his name, his real name, and she starres in shock and sorrow at the face that turned to meet her. "What happened to you?"

The Valeyard, shook his head. "He knew his sins. He knew he would pay for them eventually.  _ I  _ will make him pay for them" 

Sarah Jane shook her head. 

"I'm sorry"

The door closed before The Valeyard's face, and he sighed deeply. The plan he laid out was perfect, thought through down to the last detail, but there had been one detail that he had not been able to regulate:

Miss Sarah Jane Smith.

Frustrated, almost angry, he began to walk down the corridors of the apartment complex, stomping across the floor boards. There was a tightness in his chest that hadn't been there before, and for the first time in many millennia memories of his life before The Valeyard surfaced in his memories. 

_ Goodbye, Sarah Jane _


	2. Chapter 2

He sit in the courtroom and watch the redhead standing omat the stand with fear and panic written across her face. So far, Melanie Bush was proving a terrible witness.

_ Certainly not as good as Miss Smith would have been _

Again, Sarah Jane Smith surfaced in her mind. It was an annoying reoccurance that he had suffered since his failed attempt to procure her as a witness for the trials. The horrific spectacle put on by her replacement didn't make it better either. 

He had put thought into picking Miss Smith. He had out time and effort into tracking her down at an approperiate place in her timeline and delivering tempting arguements that would sway her to join him.

It had not worked out, and his second choice had been hastened and poorly chosen- both for who he chose and from where in the timeline she was retrieved - but there had been no time to think twice, much less to give her any instructions on what to say or do.

He had counted on a hatred that the the girl before him failed to show, and he could sense his hole cleverly crafted plan cracking around the edges.

_ Maybe _ , He thought, leaning back in his chair,  _ this was her plane all along  _

He leans back in his chair and for second, the strange tightness she caused in his chest ease up for a moment, making him feel different.

Better, some might call it. Nicer and kinder and better as a person.

The Valeyard, on the other hand, called it feeling like  _ The Doctor _ .

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Kudos & Comments please & thank you!


End file.
